Out of nearly 600 eligible high school sailing teams in the U.S., the Christian Brothers Academy varsity team finishes the spring ranked a program-best 15th in the nation.


The Colts earned that ranking after finishing top-15 at the 2017 High School Sailing National Championship this past weekend in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


Sailing against the 20 best high school teams in the country, CBA held their own throughout the event, notching 12 finishes within the top-10. In the A-Division, senior captain Joe LaForgia anchored the Colts, sailing with senior captain Chris Magno, sophomore Justin Modin and freshman John Cocozza. LaForgia and company turned in multiple top-five finishes throughout the weekend.


In the B-Division, junior Michael Ehnot and sophomore Ryan Mullins teamed up to also finish in the top-five in multiple races, including a race winner. In the sixth race of the series, Ehnot and Mullins led the race from start to finish, holding off the Francis Parker School from California to cross the finish line first.


The champion of the event, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hailed from Southern California, while other top finishers came from New England, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands.


The appearance in the National Championship completes a year where the Colts solidified themselves as a player on the national stage.


In October, Ehnot represented CBA at the Singlehanded National Championship for the second straight year and finished 10th among the best singlehanded sailors.


Christian Brothers qualified for the top national fall event, the Atlantic Coast Championship, where they were able to finish top-10. To qualify for the ACC, they finished fourth in the Mid-Atlantic, which was their best all-time finish, until they topped it by finishing as the runners-up in the spring. The second place finish at the spring Mid-Atlantic Championship qualified the Colts for the Nationals.


LaForgia, who was the 2016 New Jersey Sailor of the Year, has committed to continue his sailing career at the University of Pennsylvania, while Magno will head to Virginia Tech next fall.


For more on CBA Sailing, follow the Colts on Twitter @CBASailing.